ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
More than a year after he was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, a well-known Roanoke developer and renovator will soon begin serving his 10-year prison term.
The Virginia Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of Ren Heard, who has been free on a $50,000 appeal bond since he was convicted of statutory rape in February 1995.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Teaster, who received word of the Supreme Court's decision on Monday, said it's likely Heard will be required to turn himself in to jail once the court's order is filed in Roanoke Circuit Court - probably in about a week.
Although Heard could possibly appeal his conviction further, "his options are pretty limited," Teaster said.
Heard, 45, was portrayed by defense attorneys during his trial as a successful renovator and a crime-fighting civic leader. He once was the master builder for Explore Park in Roanoke County, and led efforts by a residents' group to rid the West End neighborhood of drug dealers and troublemakers.
But prosecutors described a different Heard.
Behind his public persona, they showed, Heard was keeping a 14-year-old girl in his Salem Avenue home - where she cooked, cleaned and helped with his renovating business by day and submitted to his sexual demands by night.
"While Mr. Heard may have been building Roanoke up in public, he was destroying the victim in private," Teaster told a jury during the trial.
Heard admitted that he had sex with the girl, but said it was part of a loving relationship in which they considered each other husband and wife. Acknowledging that he used poor judgment considering the girl's age, Heard explained that "Love made me blind to reason."
Heard told the jury that he did not have sex with the girl until after she turned 15 - which still would have been a crime, but not under the exact wording of his statutory rape charge, which prohibits consensual sex with girls between the ages of 13 and 15.
Rejecting Heard's defense, the jury sentenced him to 10 years in prison, the maximum punishment for statutory rape. Because the crime occurred in 1991, Heard will not be affected by new laws that abolish parole. But the Virginia Parole Board appointed by Gov. George Allen has held prisoners longer than in the past.
Tony Anderson, a Roanoke attorney who represented Heard during his appeal, could not be reached for comment Monday.
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